has it been that long

I can't believe it, 7 months since I've posted!  So much for new years resolutions.  I really did want to post at least 3 times a week this year, but it has been a bad year for health problems.  I was born with 3 heart defects, and the problems they cause are getting worse as I get older.  I'm back at work now at 3 days a week, and the doctors don't think I will ever return full time. 
I now have an empty nest.  My son who is 23 has moved out and is now living with his girlfriend(Michele) and her 3 year old son(Theo).   You watch your children grow and are there to help them and guide them along their way.  By the time they are in their late teen years and early 20's there is not much left to do other  than to watch them struggle through the Mom knows nothing and why even talk to her stage.  You try to stay patient and you hope that you gave them enough of a solid upbringing that they will be able to become a good adult.  My son(William) seemed to become a man over night, he brought a girlfriend home to meet us. Introduced us to Michele and her 3 year old son Theo.  So in March my son started transforming into a man, and I really like the man he has become.  I see him with Theo and am proud of the father I see him becoming.  I wasn't sad when he move out in July, for me it was just the natural progression of things. 
For the last 7 months I have been resting, sewing, crocheting, knitting and doing cross stitch.  This winter seemed to be a long and hard one, it just never seemed to end, but spring finally did happen.  We opened the trailer again, and I was able to spend long weekends  there plating or sitting out side.  I like hand made things of every kind, and I love to see things that people would normally throw away used for something.  A friend was throwing out some pallets, or was going to burn them, well as soon as I saw them I had this vision. a fence with flower shelves.  Here they are, and I do like how the turned out and best of all they cost nothing.

Second day of Things to finish

I wanted to get all the things I want to finish my UFO and list them, its a time to finish things and not buy anything new.  The only negative thing about this is that hubby will now know how many UFO's there are.  I am suprised at how many I have but even tho I bought some of theses things years ago I still love them as much today as the day I bought them.  The internet has been such a reat thing but there are also not some good things about it.  I opened an email from our local craft store here in Quebec, and for then next 2 days they are having sales, one of the sales is cotton at 99 cents a meter, now I know that it will be a very limited quantity of fabric design, but 99 cents?  I don't need any more material at this time and taxes are coming up, so I am fighting with myself trying to not go.  I'm glad I did this list of UFO's because it is helping me not to go buy anything more.  So on with the list.


11. lap quilt needs border and then quilted



 12, my Dresden plate laptop, not sure about border

 

 13. this shouldn't count as a UFO, but hubby and sister-in-law bought me this mag for Christmas because they liked this quilt

 

 

 14. squares made for a jean rag quilt need  to sew them together and decide how to finish it

14 baby jean rag quilt, needs to be washed then need to decide how to finish it.



 15. missing picture knitted in the square baby blanket.

16, cushion

 

 

 



 17, cushion

 

 

 

 

 



 18. cross stitched mug rug to finish

 

 



 19-20two cushions to be quilted, bought these many years ago

 

 



 21. baby blanket, always loved this baby blanket.

A Year For Finishes

A  New Year! This year I plan on finishing a lot of projects that I have had around for a log or short time.  I'll have some extra time, as I will only be working 1 day a week for the next 3 months.  I'm lucky that I have good medical coverage 85% salary on the days off.  The following is a list of finishes for this year.  I wish!!
The pictures are not that great, you would think hubby would of taken them outside and taken the pictures, ok I guess snow and that it was -20 was a good reason not to.
This top I finished a few months ago and am now hand quilting it.  I hand quilt most of my items.

1.

 

2.  finish hand quilting this baby blanket

 

 

3.  finish this cushion with a zipper so it can be washed and stuffed to hubby's desire

 

 

 

 

4.finish this baby blanket, I have a thing for baby blankets and this design

 

5. this cross stitch quilt block. this is what got me into quilting 3 years ago.  There are 6 squares, and I had to back it  with white cotton to make it so you couldn't see the thread on the back.  I think I'll quilt it with small knots and hope it looks like rain drops.  4 squares are done, 2 to go.

 

 

 

6.  Hexagon quilt that I started over a year ago, the top is 3/4 finished but I can't find the baggie that has the unfinished hexagons in it.  Tore the house apart this weekend looking for it, but couldn't find it,  I'm hoping it is in my desk drawer AT WORK.

 

7.  This is a mini quilt that I did during my paper piecing stage, just need to quilt it.

 

 

 

8.  This should be a quick finish, another cushion, we won't talk about the lap quilt to go with it.

 

9.  Lap quilt that needs to be backed and quilted, but might put on a border to it.  This was to use some of my 2 1/2 squares up.

 

10  This quilt top was done in December, it is a pattern from Bonnie Hunter's site, I liked the pattern and wanted to try it.  Lap top sized quilt that needs a boarder, backed and quilted.

 

 

That's it for today, now don't think that is all the UFO's I have another 10 I'll post on Monday or Tuesday, since Monday is my day to work.  I also will try to post some things that I finished in December.



 

 

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

That time of year when I convince hubby to go for a drive and look at Christmas lights.  Was a beautiful night last night, just after a storm with 30 cm of snow.  With Christmas music playing on the radio, we just went for a drive around the area and looked at all the pretty lights.  I love looking at houses at night and wondering what all the families are doing inside.  A kitchen light on, makes me think of Mother and daughter baking Christmas cookies with flower and sprinkles all over the counter.  A light in a living room on and I think of a family sitting around the TV watching It's A Wonderful Life.  A light on in a bedroom and I think of a young boy reaching under his bed and pulling out that special present he bought for his Mom, and looking for some wrapping paper and using masking tape to wrap it.  Most of all I think of  my Dad and Mom and my grandparents that made sure my childhood was filled with love and laughter.  May your holidays be filled with unforgettable memories.

Is it Wednesday or Thursday?

Just past midnight and I'm awake.  My time is all off today, some people we know have gone on vacation, and since I live so close to the airport they park their car in our driveway and we drive them to the airport.  The only bad thing about it is that they had to be at the airport for 4:00am, so what do you do stay up or get up at 3:30 in the morning?  I chose to stay up and went to bet at 4:30 in the morning. 
I've done quite a bit of sewing and crafts this past few weeks as I am only working 1 day a week for awhile.  Here is a picture of that ufo I finished for hubby

I use to make lots of these sweaters years ago.  I love knitting in the round.

I also filled the pin bottles and they sit right beside my machine, they are very handy,

 

 

Here is a pillow made with left over blocks I had

 

I  finished another baby blanket, Still love these quilts, as I just cut the small pieces I have left over.

 

My sewing machine needed a cover so made it this one.

 

Well that's all for tonight!







Gout!!! I hate gout attacks.  They happen out of the blue, and usually hit in my left foot.  Most of the time they are not in the big toe, but in the heal or the instep. A week ago one decided to hit my foot, lucky I had a doctor's appointment the morning after it started.  With the gout and some other medical problems the doctor has put me on 80% rest for the next 6 weeks, which means I work one day a week.  The weekend was not very productive in sewing as the foot was just too sore to put on the ground, but Monday and Tuesday I had alot of enjoyment cuting, sewing, pressing and sewing. I'm currently working on 3 different quilts that are all over my sewing machine.  One a baby blanket like this one I finished.

I love this quilt pattern it takes 3 differnt sizes of blocks 3 1/2 X 3 1/2 .....4 1/2 x 3 1/2....2 1/2 x 6 1/2.  Which means all of my scraps go into theses size of blocks and then I sew them between doing outher blocks.

This pattern is a baby blanket I made, I used old squares that I had originaly cut out using scissors about 1 1/2 years ago, when I first started quilting. I probably should of thrown them out but instead I re-organized  them and made them into a baby blanket. I even quilted it by machine, a first for me.

I'm also working on a throw size quilt using Bonnie Hunters Scrappy Magestic Mountain pattern, so am cutting out 8 1/2 in cquares and cutting them in 1/2 on the diagonal. Haven't figured out what makes it an up or down mountain, but I'll figure that out. 

I wanted to do some pincushions, and saw somemwhere on the net where someone use mason jars, so I did pin cushions on the tops of 7 mason jars. And now they are at my sewing machine, holding straight pins, safety pins thread and anything else small that I want to keep near at hand.

Anyone that has read any of my blogs or even knows me a little, knows that I am currently on a sewing machine craze.  I love antique sewing machines, the way they look they feel and how they sew.  I love looking through Kijiji at the different ones and sometime will see a nargain I just can't refuse.  Well this Friday looking through Kijij there was an add for an estate sale that was happeing on Friday and Saturday 10:00 - 3:00.  I was able all day Friday to convince myself that I didn't need another machine, and besides that I could hardly walk.  Well I held tough till Saturday at 2:30, then we needed to get a few groceries, so hubby and I head out well the estate sale was only a 5 minute drive from our house I convinced hubby to just swing by and see what they had.  I sent him in to see, he knows the type of machine I like.  He comes out and tells me they have 2 sewing machines, but they want over $150.00 for both.  Well he goes back in, carrting the portable one and says that he got both for $75.00.  Here is the first one, its missing the 2 plates over the bobbin cover, but they can be purchased at the local Singer store.

 

 

The second one is a real beauty, will take a better picture later of it.  This picture doesn't have the drawers in it, which I have, they were full of zippers, bindings, and different feet and the button hole maker for the machine.

 

The only problem with this machine is she weights a ton, the desk must be pure mahogany, and poor hubby had to carry it up from the basement, and put it in the trunk by himself.  I haven't tried it yet, but will use it this weekend I have a baby blanket I started using jean material, but I found it too heavy for my regular sewing machine to sew through 4 layers of denim.  This one should sew through 4 layers af it was nothing.

 



 

 

A Day to Remember

Rememberance day is just a few days off.  It's time to take a few minutes for all of use to think of all the men that have serverd to protect us. 
My dad was in WW2, he met my mother while he was doing his basic training here in Montreal. 

After the war was over he returned to Montreal to marry my mother.  My dad passed away 7 years ago, and I miss him every day.   It is difficult to think of him as a young man, heading off to France to fight a war.  I know he had to use his brothers birth certificate to enlist as he was under age. I also know that it took him years to forget about the war.  When I was young I can remember that we couldn't go and shake my dad to wake hime up, we needed to call his name first.  If you shook him to wake him up he would come up swinging, and the war had been over for 15 years then.  I'm sure my dad must of seen terrible things during the war, he only told me some of them when he was in his late 70's or early 80's, somehow the war didn't make my dad violent at all, he was a strong man who loved his family.
My father drove this truck during the war, he was in tank reconnaissance.

 

 

Tomorrow I will have a post on 2 baby blankets I finished this weekend